Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Friday denied another emergency request to block the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness program. This is the second ruling they have handed down in similar cases.
Barrett, who is in charge of handling emergency cases arising from several Midwestern states, denied the request on her own without referring it to the full court. Her one-line order comes after the libertarian group Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) had urged the court to stop the President’s plans for nationwide student loan cancellation.
PLF was the first group that aimed to block Biden’s program through the court. The group has argued that the debt plan would cause a lot of hardship to fellow PLF attorney Frank Garrison as the automatic cancellation of his debt would require him to pay taxes on the amount forgiven.
The Education Department has noted that individuals can opt out of the debt relief program. While the federal judge rejected the request, the group has been allowed to amend its complaints.
PLF amended its complaint and turned it into a class-action lawsuit by adding a second plaintiff, Noel Johnson. The district judge again dismissed the case and decided that Garrison and Johnson did not have the necessary standing for a case.
The group appealed, but the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals also denied their request. Finally, PLF sent their lawsuit to the Supreme Court, but they too denied it.
